[ExI] chatgpt plus google translate

[BillK]

On Mon, 10 Apr 2023 at 00:49, spike jones via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
> OK, but really what I was shooting for is Mandarin.  European languages are
> all fairly similar in structure really.  Lookup-table style translation
> works well enough.  But I noticed when trying to do Mandarin to English or
> vv, things get messed up.  Hilarity ensues.  I don't think we have any
> native Mandarin speakers on the ExI list.
>
> Some years ago, when online translators were all the new thing, I was on a
> motorcycle enthusiasts group where a Japanese-only speaker showed up.  His
> posts were hilarious.  He was always falling all over himself apologizing,
> we kept telling him no worries, lad, no offense taken at all, etc.  When
> that went back into Japanese, I fear it came out on his end as: no bananas,
> young man, your spleen is on fire completely.
>
> Or something else completely absurd.  It didn't work.
>
> spike
> _______________________________________________


Mandarin is worse than Japanese.  Mandarin is a group of Chinese
language dialects where some dialects are difficult for other Mandarin
speakers to understand. No wonder translation to English is difficult.
An English speaker has difficulty understanding a broad Scottish
dialect (not Gaelic, which is a different language). Broad Scottish
has so many different words (as well as the accent) that it is almost
incomprehensible to an Englishman.

BillK